Lenten blog | April 2, 2026

Maundy Thursday

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for April 2nd:  Exodus 12:1-14; Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; and John 13:1-17, 31b-35.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Last night at sunset the Jewish festival of Passover began.  It is the remembrance of God’s liberation of the Jews from Egyptian slavery.  As it is said in today’s Exodus passage, “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.”  Accordingly, Jews around the world and in our local communities are right now observing Passover, and are finding true spiritual nourishment in it. 

Jesus was Jewish.  It should go without saying, but Jesus did not wear a cross necklace.  Jesus maintained the religious rites and practices of His people, the Jewish people.  What we now call the Last Supper was Jesus’ last Passover observance.  It is interesting to study the different ways the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke treat this gathering as compared with John.  A principal difference is that the much shorter Synoptic Last Supper pericopes highlight the institution of Holy Communion, while the much longer account in John never mentions the institution (That happened earlier in the miracle of the loaves). 

John’s Gospel is behind the name Maundy Thursday.  It is derived from the Latin word for commandment.  In John’s account, Jesus gives a new command that His followers must love one another just as He has loved them.  Tied in with this command is Jesus’ example of washing the disciples’ feet.  Jesus here takes on the role of the household servant/slave, and as such He teaches:  “‘I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, slaves are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.’”  “If you do them …”  That’s the key.  It is one thing to know that we are to love one another as Jesus has loved us, to love in a selfless, humble way, to erase the differences between slave and master and see everyone as equal in the eyes of God, but it is another to act accordingly. 

The Synoptics don’t share the washing the feet story.  They celebrate Jesus’ institution of Holy Communion.  This is the occasion when Jesus says over the bread “This is my body” and over the cup “This is my blood.”  He also commands, “Do this in remembrance of me,” and the church has for nearly 2,000 years.  This is one of the church’s most ancient and most authentic traditions.  It reaches to a time before the emergence of any Christian text.  Paul’s letters are the oldest parts of the New Testament, and Communion predates them.  In technical language that reports the exact reception and exact transmission of a tradition, Paul writes, “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you …,” and then Paul describes the basics of the Holy Communion ritual.  Christians have gathered at table and repeated this Last Supper action for as long as there have been Christians.  Communion unites us with Christ and each other, and also across the millennia of generations. 

After this last Passover meal, Jesus and most of His disciples exit the city proper and plan to spend the night in the Garden of Gethsemane.  It is here that Jesus is betrayed by one of His disciples and deserted by all of them.  Jesus must face the abuse of His enemies alone throughout the night, leading to the next day’s unbelievable ordeal.

All of these actions, the inherited Passover tradition, the new commandment, the institution of Holy Communion, and the beginning of Jesus’ Passion, are all part of the Maundy Thursday worship Service.  It is a special and beautiful liturgy that ends in the silence of a darkened church.  I invite you to join us this evening at 7:00pm at the Sunderland Church for our Maundy Thursday Service.  Whoever you are, you are welcome.

If you would like to join us for our online Bible study, please send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom logins.
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If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.